Middle school boys praised for stopping suicidal woman from jumping off bridge

A middle school volleyball team saw a woman attempting to jump off the Stanislaus Bridge in Fresno, Calif. while jogging last Thursday, and they immediately stepped in. The students asked her not to give up, the Kepler Neighborhood School wrote on Facebook.

“She was like, one hand, and feet hanging already,” Brandy Ezell, one of the boys, told the local ABC 7 News.

The team members told their coach, Elliot Murray, to call 911 and the woman eventually pulled herself up off the edge of the bridge. Police lieutenant Mark Hudson told the Fresno Bee that the 47-year-old woman had wanted to die by suicide and was placed on a mental health evaluation hold for 72 hours.

Members of Kepler School’s Volleyball team helped save a life. During practice Thursday afternoon, the students acted…

“These young men stepped up when no one else could,” Timothy Yeager, Kepler School’s director of student services, said in a statement posted to Facebook. “Words fail to do justice [to] how incredibly proud we are of these Kepler scholars and Coach Elliot’s leadership.”

The school’s post added that the middle schoolers said they’re thankful they were there at the right time and that they’ll never forget that day.

One of the boy’s moms commented that she’s “so proud of all of them,” and other community members said the same.

“In a world where people are more out to just film it and do nothing, you did not,” one person wrote. “Right on to all of you. You are how the world should be.”